Tuesday, August 11, 2015

TALES OF MANHATTAN: The Cool Philosophy Of Babs Gonzales

In this 1959 album of rhymed poems set over a cool jazz beat, Babs Gonzalez posits himself as the hippest of the hip, here to school all you cosplay-wearin', video-game playin', indie "rock"-listenin' rubes 'n' cubes. This cat wants to pull your coat to, like, where it's at, ya dig? A fun relic from the days when jazz was part of a low-down street culture, not today's boring, conservatory-trained "American Classical Music."You will be forgiven for thinking that Babs was a Latina, going by his name and that album cover, but nope, he was a black man. Not much of a singer, he got by on sheer attitude. This album makes an interesting contrast to the Buddy Starcher album we posted last week - tho they are both spoken word over music, they're pretty much poles apart. Babs is everything Buddy wasn't: cool, cynical, urban, sophisticated, and non-white. A hipster, in the original sense of the word. If those two ever met, like matter and anti-matter, they might have annihilated each other.Tales Of Manhattan: The Cool Philosophy Of Babs Gonzales

A1

The Hat Box Chicks

A2

Broadway - 4 A.M.

A3

You Need Connections

A4

'Dem Resolution Liars

A5

Manhattan Fable

B1

'Dem Jive New Yorkers

B2

The Squares

B3

A Dollar Is Your Only Friend

B4

The Cool Cat's Philosophy

B5

Ole Braggin' Freddie

I have
no beef with today's trendy urban youth, they got their own thing. I
just wish they hadn't stolen the word "hipster," esp. since they don't
even seem to like it. In Bab's day, you had to earn that designation. After all, he named his memoirs "I Paid My Dues." The hip scene was a secret underworld society. They needed these code words, as this was the era before the civil rights/black power movement, and long before the decriminalization of, er, "reefers" ("tea," "gage," etc). In these songs you'll hear such slang expressions as: Cadillac boys = pimpsfrail = girlpound = $5 (a lot of money in those days)black and whites = night and daysvine = a suit of clotheslong green = lots of money